


Good Dreams

by atenaglory



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Kissing, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 15:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8107924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atenaglory/pseuds/atenaglory
Summary: The final battle against the Collectors draws near, and Garrus' dreams are troubled. That is, until the night he finds Shepard in the kitchen. Directly after Midnight Snack, from Garrus' perspective.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is my baby, but it's really just pure, self-indulgent shakarian. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> There are some direct references to Midnight Snack, so it would probably be better to read that first if you haven't already! (http://archiveofourown.org/works/7357867)

Garrus had been having vivid and unsettling dreams for about a week. He, and everyone else on the team, had begun to grapple with the fact that there was a very real chance that they would not be coming back from the Omega 4 Relay. No ship had ever done it. For the hopeful, the fact that no one but their commander had ever come back from the dead was of some comfort, plus there was the fact that they had upgraded the hell out of the reincarnated Normandy. But still, there was no sense in pretending that this was anything but a suicide mission. They had no idea what they were up against.  It might be an entire Reaper fleet, for all they knew. Though Garrus trusted Shepard to bring them through this, the unknown factors were too numerous to ignore. As a result, his dreams had been troubled lately. They had been filled with reminders of negative parts his life so far, or mistakes that he had made. They brought to the forefront concerns about the near future that he had not yet been ready to address. Up until the previous night, he had barely gotten any sleep.

The night before, he had tried to turn in early. He’d figured that, considering his exhaustion, he could snag one night of dreamless sleep. He hadn’t had any luck, though, and had instead been granted a flashback to the remnants of his team on Omega being killed. The helplessness he had felt, the feeling of all his remaining hope draining from him, and the bitter regret he had experienced when he realized that he wasn’t going to make it out either, were all present in the dream, as though he were experiencing it for the first time. He had woken up after a flash of the N7 logo, forever etched into his memory.

He hadn’t killed Sidonis. At first, he had felt that the only good thing to come from his attempt on Sidonis’ life was the knowledge that Shepard trusted him enough to stand in his crosshairs, between him and such an important target. He had been frustrated with her actions. She _always_ did this, and he always went out of his way to understand her perspective. But this was his personal business. Sometimes he would have liked her to try to understand _his_ point of view. That was how it had felt at first. It hadn’t mattered to Garrus that Sidonis was paying for his crime. He would have put the bastard out of his misery. But the conversation they’d had after she’d convinced him to let Sidonis go had also had an impact on him. Slowly his bitterness about her decision had morphed into awe. How did she always know what to do in those kinds of situations? He knew that she cared about him enough that she probably wanted Sidonis dead too, although she never would have said it. Yet when she saw Sidonis, she still gave him a chance. She spoke to him and heard his side and immediately made the judgment that he didn’t need to die. In fact, she had probably already considered the effects that killing him would have had on Garrus. After calming down, he had realized that killing Sidonis wouldn’t have given him any peace. Hearing Sidonis’ side, however, and knowing that he hadn’t killed the last member of his former team, were definitely helping him to move forward.

Or so he had thought, until he had that dream the night before. He knew that moving on wouldn’t be a straight line from start to finish, but it frustrated him that he was still losing sleep because of what had happened. It still tortured him that the only reason his team was put into the situation that had killed them was his poor judgment. After mulling it over and realizing that he wasn’t going to draw any new conclusions, he’d decided to get a glass of water. He’d left his room, only to find none other than the commander herself, sitting on the counter with one hand in a bag of some human snack, staring into space. After expressing their worries and frustrations to each other, they had comforted each other—just the one kiss, nothing dirty!—but were interrupted by Miranda shortly after they had kissed. She’d rounded the corner from her room saying, “Just up for some water, surely there isn’t anyone else in the kitchen at this time of night..!” so Garrus had assumed that Miranda expected to find them there. They’d had just enough time for Garrus to step away from Shepard, who jumped off the counter as Miranda came into view. Miranda had insisted that they not mind her, but Shepard cleared out almost immediately with a brief, “Good night, Miranda. Garrus.” And a nod. How did she switch back to Commander Shepard so quickly?

Garrus followed suit, but earned a smirk from Miranda as he retreated to the Main Battery. Still, he managed to get the best sleep he’d gotten in quite some time after that. He woke up the next morning bright and early, feeling refreshed, and with a faint feeling that he’d had a really nice dream the night before. He couldn’t remember what it had been about, but it was a welcome change. He got up and headed to the kitchen to see what he could get his hands on to eat. He was sure that they would be headed on some mission or other to pass the time until the Reaper IFF was installed, and since he was in a good mood he decided that he would have a nice conversation with whoever was out in the mess right then, since he probably wouldn’t be having many in depth conversations once the next mission began. As he walked out of the battery, surveying the room to see who would be up for a chat, he froze as he realized that Shepard was chatting with some crewmates at a table. Her hair was wet, plastered to her forehead and neck, and she was talking in a very lively way. Though Shepard was a serious and charismatic commander, she never left her room so early, didn’t usually talk much over meals, and Garrus was almost certain he had never seen her with wet hair before. (On a separate note, what was with hair? Humans had to think about so many things with regards to their appearance, didn’t they? Poor them.) She always took care to look professional in front of her crew. Except, of course, last night. Granted, she probably hadn’t anticipated running into anyone. He had never seen so much of her skin before. He remembered how soft it had been. Soft and smooth. Remembering her caresses, he felt heat on his neck where her fingers had been, cool and gentle, the previous night. And her eyes. Her eyes were so big, so bright. Eyes that were… staring at him right now, and looking very confused. He realized that she was waving at him. He wondered how long he’d been standing there like an idiot, and shook his head before waving back with a soft and half-hearted laugh. Could humans tell when turians were flushed? Did it matter, at this point? It was probably obvious to her what was on his mind, but because she was with people, she had probably turned off her excess emotions. He was pretty sure that she could do that. He then realized that Shepard was sitting with Doctor Chakwas and Engineer Daniels, and sighed in relief, realizing that none of the squad members had just seen him momentarily bluescreen. He crossed the room and, after grabbing some cold ready-to-eat dextro food, sat at the table with Shepard.

All three people sitting at the table greeted him as he approached, and then resumed their conversation. He sat down on Shepard’s left, across from Doctor Chakwas and diagonal from Daniels. Of course, he knew the doctor quite well, but he had never really had a chance to talk to Daniels, so he decided to listen quietly to their conversation and take this opportunity to get to know her. He was also curious to see what had Shepard in such a good mood.

“So I’m up in the rafters, and Talid and his bodyguards go through this night club. And I’m looking at them, totally focused, when out of the corner of my I see this this guy, a turian, and he’s just having the time of his life! He was dancing like there was no tomorrow! I have to say, I wish I could be as carefree as that guy. I wanted to jump down and join in, but I knew I had to focus for Thane.”

“You mean, you knew that he would show you up on the dance floor,” Dr. Chakwas chided.

Shepard shot her a look, then continued, “ _Anyway,_ the rest of the mission was pretty rough stuff, emotionally, but that honestly made my whole day.”

“I can’t even believe you actually got distracted from a mission,” Daniels said. Though she was sitting in a casual conversation with Shepard, she still seemed in awe.

“Well, I can’t say it happens often…” Shepard began, but Garrus snorted. She must be joking, right? She was a good multitasker but she got distracted by everything, everywhere. That was why they always had so much to do.

“Got something to share with the class, Vakarian?”

“Nothing at all, nothing at all. Carry on.”

“Right, so if the _peanut gallery_ is finished…” She looked at Dr. Chakwas and then at Garrus, but then laughed and leaned forward onto the table. Garrus’ laugh and the snarky response he’d prepared got stuck in his throat, as he again became aware of her damp hair, still plastered to her neck. She had a black long-sleeved shirt on, with the high collar that she was such a fan of, but he could still see a little bit of her neck. He wondered how she would react to having _her_ neck caressed. She’d seem to like it enough when he had simply touched her arm. It must have been that soft skin of hers. But then the idea that maybe it wasn’t what he had done so much as the simple fact that it had been him crossed his mind. An intriguing—and exciting—thought. Was it possible that, despite her casual nature about the whole thing, Shepard was seriously interested in him?

“…right, Garrus?” Shepard’s voice, still filled with amusement, made its way through Garrus’ thoughts.

“What was that?”

“Are you alright? You seem a little dazed this morning. You’re not getting sick or anything, right? You know the doctor’s right here; we can have her take a look at you.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Garrus and Dr. Chakwas said in unison. He didn’t miss the laughter in the doctor’s voice.

“Alright?” The fact that both of them had answered seemed to throw Shepard off balance a little, and so she didn’t press any further. “Anyway, those krogan! How they were arguing about the fish on the Presidium?”

“Right, and we went to the groundskeeper to ask about them,” he recalled, already amused. Shepard had told him her theory already.

“Yeah, so I’m almost sure that he’s the same guy that was dancing in the club!”

“No way,” Daniels said animatedly.

“Yes!”

“I knew that guy, he really knows how to have a good time,” Garrus added. It seemed that he had finally calmed down.

“You didn’t tell me all of that,” Shepard said curiously.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about my time in C-Sec, Shepard,” he teased.

“Yeah right, like what?”

“Like the time I took out a minor drug ring by using my _excellent_ skills as a detective to find and stop the leader directly. You’ll never guess who it was.”

“The hanar that plays Blasto or I want my money back.”

“Ooh, so close. You remember that elcor you told me was complaining about the asari consort and his secrets? I know a secret or two of his.”

“What! Okay, I know I said I wanted it to be a hanar but honestly how can people like hanar and elcor run _drug rings_? How?!” Daniels and Dr. Chakwas laughed.

“It’s easier than you’d think. Didn’t Thane tell you that every race hires assassins? Think of it that way. You just need someone willing and able to do the job for you.”

“Wow. You’ve got to tell me more about your detective days later, _Officer_ Vakarian.”

“Oh, I’ll tell you a lot more than—” Garrus began without thinking, but a stifled snicker from Daniels cut him off. Shepard had raised one eyebrow at him, but looked amused.

“That’s quite enough breakfast for one morning,” Dr. Chakwas declared, standing up and gathering her dishes from the table. “You two should be careful that you don’t get told to get a room first thing in the morning.”

“With all due respect, Commander, _get a room_ ,” Daniels said cheerfully, winking at Garrus and following Dr. Chakwas. If nothing else, it seemed he’d helped her get over some of her reverence of the commander.

When the other two had left the room, Shepard turned to him and asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“You don’t seem to be asking very sincerely this time.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who insisted on embarrassing everyone in the room. I know everyone seems to know what’s going on between us, but I was hoping for at least _some_ privacy.”

He wondered how _she_ would describe what was “going on”. They had never explicitly discussed or labelled it.

“Privacy? On this ship?” He scoffed.

“That’s fair. Still, maybe you want to have Dr. Chakwas take your temperature or something,” she said teasingly.

“Cut me some slack, Shepard. It’s early.”

She smiled up at him. It felt like his heart stopped beating for a moment. Since when did that happen? Without thinking, he reached up and brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen onto the bridge of her nose. Her eyes grew wide, and she sat up straight, pulling away from him a little bit. Then she got up and said, “I’ve, uh, gotta go prepare for… uh… the mission! Right!” And stumbled towards the elevator, giggling nervously.

Since… when did that happen?

He looked down at the table and laughed, seeing that she’d left her breakfast dishes behind. Then, after clearing up both his and Shepard’s dishes, he headed back to the Main Battery, hoping that he’d be able to get some calibrating done in spite of his distraction. Damn that wet hair of hers. He wasn’t sure whether he hoped she would take more care to leave her room after she had gotten properly dressed, or if he hoped to catch her like that more often.

 

The next morning, Garrus woke up bright and early, feeling particularly refreshed once again, and again with the feeling that he’d been having an enjoyable dream. He had the feeling that the dream had been comfortable and familiar. He pondered what it could have been about, but in the end he simply couldn’t remember. Either way, he figured that it would be a nice day. Instead of sabotaging himself by resolving to have a talk with anyone, he decided to take a shower while he would have the bathroom to himself.

In the shower, Garrus reviewed recent events. He had done his research thoroughly, so something as simple as a kiss wasn’t a huge deal, but it had still taken him by surprise. He had been off-balance ever since. That was silly, since he was the one who had initiated the whole thing when he touched his forehead to hers. At that moment, all he had been able to think about was that he wanted to be close to her. She had put her cold hand on his face, and he’d become overwhelmed with the desire to be as near to her as possible.

He thought about her damp hair, and how it stuck to her skin. There was so much to learn about humans. His research was fine, but it didn’t really do much for him. He definitely wasn’t into humans in general. But _Shepard_ , Shepard seemed to grow more attractive in his eyes every day. If someone had told him that he would feel this way back on the SR1, he would probably would have told them they were crazy (and blushed—he had really looked up to her back then). But now he couldn’t stop thinking about her skin and hair and eyes. He wondered when the last time he had felt like this had been. He wanted to kiss her again.

Though he had been hoping to run into Shepard since she’d bolted after breakfast the previous day, she hadn’t visited the third floor since then. Or, if she had, she certainly hadn’t dropped by the Main Battery. Garrus figured that she must have been busy since they were coming up on the end of the fight against the Collectors. They were gathering minerals so that they could put the finishing touches on the ship and upgrade their armor and weapons. Though Garrus’ dreams had calmed down, it didn’t change the fact that they were now very near to their attack on the Collectors. He figured that if she needed him, she would summon or visit, and in the meantime he would continue to prepare for their night together.

That night, he stayed up late making sure that the Thanix Cannon was up to scratch, checking and double checking every little detail. He was taking a break, and had decided to grab something to drink, when he opened the door to find Shepard on the other side, finger hovering over where the lock button to his door had been a moment before.

“Can I… help you?” He certainly hadn’t expected to find her here. She was in that shirt again, the one with no sleeves and the surprisingly low collar.

“I was just wondering how my favorite Turian was doing.” Her voice was surprisingly smooth for someone that had just been caught lurking outside his door.

“Aw, I’m touched, Shepard. I’m your favorite Turian?”

“Don’t get too excited, I don’t know very many Turians. Did I make you blush for a second, there?”

“Not a chance.” Not this time, anyway. Why was she really here?

“I’m just triple-checking the Thanix Cannon,” he tried. Maybe she was here on business. “This time, we’ll show them who they’re messing with.”

“You just can’t take your eyes off that cannon, can you,” she said playfully. It seemed a little half-hearted, though.

“You know she’s my pride and joy.”

“You two planning to settle down after this is all over?”

The conversation had taken a strange turn. “Maybe,” Garrus responded a little cautiously. Her tone was normal but the way she was holding herself seemed a little awkward. “Are you alright? Why don’t you come in?”

“Uh, sure,” she said, sighing.

After they had stepped into the Battery and the door closed, Garrus turned back to face Shepard, but she didn’t say anything. She was looking at the ground, so Garrus figured he should say something.

“Is… everything alright?”

She frowned up at him. It wasn’t the unforgiving scowl that he was used to seeing on the battlefield or during dealings with corrupt politicians, the frown that went with her Commander-voice. It was a much lighter pout, and was… surprisingly cute. Human faces were so interesting. How could they stand being so easy to read? And yet, Garrus simply could not fathom what was making her look at him like that.

“I can’t stop thinking about when we kissed,” she said plainly.

Garrus froze, but almost immediately shifted into gloating mode. So he wasn’t the only one. She had acted all calm the day before, and had allowed him to make an idiot of himself in front of Dr. Chakwas and Engineer Daniels, but she had probably been feeling the same way!

He chuckled, and her frown deepened. It was getting closer to the dreaded battle-scowl, but in this context it was still absolutely adorable. She pushed his shoulder and he fell back a step, but laughed again. How embarrassed was she!?

“There’s more where that came from, no need to be shy,” he said almost boastfully. “No one’s going to interrupt us in here.”

“What happened to ‘The night before the Omega 4 Relay, and not a second sooner’,” she said in a mocking voice.

“Is that verbatim? To think, I had this much of an effect on you!” He laughed again, though she probably didn’t know it was mostly a laugh of relief. She pushed him again. “I stand by what I said, but if you just want another kiss... Plus, the IFF is probably installed already, for all we know.”

“It’s not, I checked,” she mumbled, looking distractedly at EDI’s console. Then, realizing what she’d said, she gasped and covered her mouth, looking up at him. His mandibles flared in a grin. This night was getting better and better.

“Are you that excited about this, Commander?”

“Don’t you ‘Commander’ me, _Archangel_.”

“Now, now, there’s no need for all that.”

“You started it,” she said childishly. He laughed again. This time, instead of pushing him, Shepard stepped closer, so that there was almost no space between them, with her arms crossed. He was now almost leaning against the main console, so he reached back and switched it off, then crossed his own arms to match her. She glared up at him, and he grinned down at her for a moment. But it wasn’t long before all of the things that had been on his mind earlier popped back into his head. Her soft-looking hair, and her skin, the softness of which he had already verified. Her big, bright eyes. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had put one hand on her lower back and one hand on the back of her neck. He bent down to put his forehead against hers like he had before, but this time, she didn’t hesitate before kissing him. At first, a few gentle pecks, as she reached up and draped her arms around his neck. Then, her lips parted and Garrus opened his mouth slightly in response (he _knew_ all that research had been a good idea), and he knew that this kiss was the real thing. Though everything about it was still gentle and soft, it felt as though she was saying how she felt about him without saying anything at all. Humans were really onto something with this kissing thing.

He moved his hand up into her soft, curly hair, and she wrapped her arms tighter around him. Remembering how she had caressed his neck, he drew his hand from her scalp down her neck and slowly down her back. Her breathing got heavier, and she started to kiss him more aggressively, pulling herself even closer to him. She put a leg up against his hip, and he grabbed it. He involuntarily let out a growl from his subvocals. Then, pulling her other leg against him, he picked her up, spun her around, and sat her down on the now-dark console. Thank goodness he’d had the sense to turn it off earlier. He put his hands on either side of her, and bent down to nibble—extremely gently—on her ear and neck. She gasped softly, and then moaned a little. Then, after a breathy laugh, she whispered, “It’s a good thing I always wear shirts with high collars. But—” another soft moan “—you might want to stop there. Unless you don’t mind a practice round right here.”

He laughed and shook his head, then brought his face back to hers. As appealing as that sounded, he was still determined to make their night together special. She gently cupped his face in her hands and smiled at him. They stayed like that until her breathing evened back out, and then she kissed him again. He stood upright and brought his arms to rest at the base of her torso, feeling a whole new level of comfort from being near her.

Then he remembered.

The feeling of comfort that he was currently experiencing was the same as what he had felt in his dreams for the past two nights. He realized that he’d been dreaming about Shepard.

She pulled back, and then looked up at him. He rested his head against hers, a position that he had now grown used to. Dream girl, indeed.

“Was that what you needed?” He couldn’t help teasing her.

“I suppose you could say that,” she laughed.

“How long did EDI say until that IFF would get installed?”

“Well, no need to go rushing us off to our deaths.”

“You were so excited that you asked her the same question on your way here just now.”

“Yeah, yeah. We could just continue right now, you know.”

“Shepard…” She had no idea how much he’d like that.

“I know, I know, right before, blah, blah. You have to be careful with that romantic idealism of yours, Garrus. We’re fighting a war, here.”

“That’s why you’re calling the shots. In the war, at least.”

“Oh? What, you think you should be calling the shots _elsewhere_?”

“I do.”

“Big talk.”

“I did my research, remember?”

“We’ll see.”

“As though I haven’t already impressed you twice, now."

She exhaled a chuckle, then kissed him again.

“You focus on how you’re going to get us back from that relay, Shepard. I’m working as hard as can to make sure you have the best night before we get there.”

“You don’t have to worry so much, you know.” There was concern in her eyes. She stroked her thumb against his scars softly. Her fingers were soothing, and he closed his eyes to feel her hands, and her body in his arms.

“I want to,” he responded finally. “This is important to me.” Then, so quietly that he wasn’t sure if she would hear him, “ _You’re_ important to me.”

She buried her head against his neck, and wrapped her arms around him again, clinging to him. Her breath was warm and tickled him slightly. He tightened his hold on her, keeping his eyes closed and remaining focused on their bodies wrapped in each other. She didn’t always say the words that he wanted to hear, but he was starting to understand that she was conveying them to him in her own way. For now, they didn’t have to talk about big things like what was going on between them, or their slim chances of surviving the Omega 4 Relay. Just being there together was all they needed.


End file.
